138 TROPIC DAYS 



arena anew, and, marshalled by the conductor, the band 

 rushed out of the darkness uttering grunts which rang 

 a change on the monotony of previous vocal efforts. 

 A masterpiece of composition, it conjured up the dim- 

 ness of the jungle and the smell of damp vegetation. 

 All squatted in a double ring, back to back. This 

 formation was not strictly maintained, for each indivi- 

 dual made half turns to right and left alternatel}', 

 simultaneously scratching the sand with distended 

 fingers and kicking vigorous!}' until the sand ascended 

 in the smoke-tinged glow, heads bowing and ducking 

 with mechanical regularity, as the entertainers sought 

 — and with conspicuous success — to portray a community 

 of scrub turkeys building an incubating mound. 



Then it was that the favourite and belle of the camp, 

 the fascinating creature whose magnificent condition 

 bestowed privileges undreamt of by other ladies, became 

 conspicuous. Her costume had evidently been designed 

 for a lady not divinely tall, but considerably less of 

 flesh than the wearer. Maria did not actually overflow, 

 though perilously near that point. Surely buttons were 

 never designed to resist such strain. Coloured ladies 

 generally sit meekly among the audience and chatter 

 and maintain the drum-beats, lacking which no corro- 

 boree could be successful. During the intervals they 

 may emboss pictures in the impressionable sand with 

 cunning forefinger and giggle, for the subjects are often 

 quaint. Maria, sure of her privileges, waddled out from 

 the flame-obscuring dusk, turned an ample back upon 

 the double ring of boys, and played her part 'is one of 

 the giddy and industrious wild-fowls. Her fingers 

 scratched the air and her feet the dust with a realism 

 not to be excelled by the most gifted of the boys, while 

 her half grunt, half chuckle, exactly imitative of the 

 social garrulity^of the turkey, gave artistic finish to a 



